Arman Tsarukyan out of UFC 311 main event, Renato Moicano steps in

Photo Courtesy: UFC

Arman Tsarukyan is off Saturday’s UFC 311 main event and Islam Makhachev has a new challenger.

On Friday, it was revealed that Tsarukyan would be unable to fight on Saturday after alerting the UFC of a back injury late Thursday night and would be unable to fight. Red Corner MMA broke the news regarding the injury.

The revelation of his injury was made hours after Tsarukyan’s appearance at the UFC 311 press conference to promote the fight.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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Dana White announced that Islam Makhachev will stay on the card and will now be fighting Renato Moicano, who was already scheduled to compete at UFC 311.

Moicano weighed 155 pounds on Friday morning for his previously announced fight with Beneil Dariush and has been inserted into the main event.

Moicano (20-5-1) moved up to the lightweight division in 2020 and has gone 7-2 in the division and has won his last four fights including three wins in 2024.

On Friday afternoon, Tsarukyan issued a statement:

I regret to inform everyone that the news is that I had to pull out of UFC 311 with a back injury is true. This was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my fighting career. I would like to thank the UFC for understanding and I look forward to competing for my first UFC Championship in the future. Thank you all for your support

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Born on a Friday, John Pollock is a reporter, editor & podcaster at POST Wrestling. He runs and owns POST Wrestling alongside Wai Ting.